cleaning canister ( ammonia spike ) help

Helllloooooooooooo. i was wondering, hm.... for eheim 2217, if i were to use biohome as media, how often do i need to replace the media? i know that biohome break out quite easily so how often do i need to change?

Secondly if i were to replace the media wouldnt all the BB sort of vanish? then wouldnt that increase the amount of ammonia and nitrite?

sorry for asking such a noob question


P.S posted this in the planted section but no 1 replied hopefully someone nice here would help me. thanks

[urbach]

wrong section bro.will get zap by mod.

biohome to be replace takes a long time. few years to be exact.mine been about a year plus, still going strong. just top up the biohome or plus will do, dont replace.

[cheetf]

If your biohome breaks apart easily then I think you got conned. It's sintered glass and is really hard.

Basically only need to change the filter wool and drain away the solid waste. How often depends on what you have in your tank. I change the wool every 2 months or so when I remember. Filter gets washed with tank water and the solid waste is drained away.

If your tank is well established. Some bacteria will be retained and as such not all is lost. However your shrimps might be sensitive to it though.

[silane]

Originally Posted by aquariumfan

Helllloooooooooooo. i was wondering, hm.... for eheim 2217, if i were to use biohome as media, how often do i need to replace the media? i know that biohome break out quite easily so how often do i need to change?

Secondly if i were to replace the media wouldnt all the BB sort of vanish? then wouldnt that increase the amount of ammonia and nitrite?

sorry for asking such a noob question


P.S posted this in the planted section but no 1 replied hopefully someone nice here would help me. thanks

Is cleaning a canister will result in ammonia spike an establised fact?

I have biohome (plus) that uses for 2 years and they dont break.

Never use direct tap water to wash the medium, especially the bio medium, that rule number 1.

I have not used biohomes before.. but another rule while changing media (other that what Silane mentioned) is that you keep 30-40% of the old media and replace the rest with new media, so that BB can colonise faster

[bUrPz]

As per always... wash all filter material (biohome, ceramics, etc) with tank water... for me, while washing the actual canister with tap water, I will soak the filter material with more tap water... Shouldn't suffer any nitrite/ammonia spike...

[elimmel]

Originally Posted by bUrPz

As per always... wash all filter material (biohome, ceramics, etc) with tank water... for me, while washing the actual canister with tap water, I will soak the filter material with more tap water... Shouldn't suffer any nitrite/ammonia spike...

err.. soak the filter material with more tap water? typo is it?

to TS, during regular WC, draw out tank water into a pail.
then take the whole media basket and dunk into the pail with the tank water a few times to clean out any gunk to prevent clogging. pour away the water in the canister but leave abit of the gunk that's at the bottom. replace media basket, put new wool and fill canister with tank water (not from the pail).
do it fast and there'll be minimal BB dieoff.

[TheBetta]

Originally Posted by urbach

wrong section bro.will get zap by mod.

biohome to be replace takes a long time. few years to be exact.mine been about a year plus, still going strong. just top up the biohome or plus will do, dont replace.

Zap? Not that serious?

To TS : How long have your filter been running?

[bUrPz]

Originally Posted by elimmel

err.. soak the filter material with more tap water? typo is it?

to TS, during regular WC, draw out tank water into a pail.
then take the whole media basket and dunk into the pail with the tank water a few times to clean out any gunk to prevent clogging. pour away the water in the canister but leave abit of the gunk that's at the bottom. replace media basket, put new wool and fill canister with tank water (not from the pail).
do it fast and there'll be minimal BB dieoff.

Haha... right.. typo.... Soak filter material in more tank water.. =p

Yup, and at the end of it, fill canister with water from the tank...